ESS 203 Glaciers and Global Change - University of …The Amery Ice Shelf (69 45′S 71 0′E) is a broad ice shelf at the head of PrydzBay in Antarctica, between the Lars Christensen

ESS 203 Glaciers and Global Change• A 5-credit Course• Natural World • Individuals and Society• Optional W (Writing)• No pre-requisites• http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

Instructor:Ed WaddingtonPlease call me �Ed�ATG 715(206) 543-4585edw at uw.edu

TA:Joel GombinerJHN 432gombij at uw.edu

IntroductionsWho is Ed?

• He’s a Professor in Earth and Space Sciences.• Teaches graduate and undergraduate courses about

glaciers, continuum mechanics, and computer modeling of ice and climate.

• Advises graduate students and some undergrads doing directed research projects.

• Carries out research on ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, to select ice-core drilling sites, to help ice-core geochemists to interpret paleoclimaterecords in the ice, and to figure out how big the ice sheets were in the past.

IntroductionsIt will be important to know your classmates for

group discussions and Labs. • We can start the process today• Find a neighbor who you don’t know (today, that

should be easy J).• Take 2 minutes each to interview your partner.• Get their name and at least 2 other bits of information

(for example, their reason for being here today, an interest outside the UW, others …).

• Now find another pair of classmates near you.• Each person takes 1 minute introducing your partner

to the new pair.http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

HINT:• they are not a rock group J

What are The Spheres?

http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

I’m also not talking about the AMAZON campus ...January 3, 2017.

Amazon’s Spheres: Lush nature paradise to adorn $4 billion urban campus


The Spheres (they are not a rock group orAmazon’s garden.):

• The atmosphere is the region of gases on planet Earth.• The hydrosphere is the watery regions on planet Earth.• The biosphere is the region with life on planet Earth.• The lithosphere is the rocky tectonic plates (the

uppermost 30 miles or so) on planet Earth.

What’s the Cryosphere?• The cryosphere is the ice on planet Earth.

(kryos, Greek, icy, cold)http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

Can you name some components of the Cryosphere?

• Ice in clouds• Seasonal snow• Lake ice• River ice• Sea ice• Glaciers• Ice caps (e.g. in Patagonia, on Iceland,

on some Canadian arctic islands)• Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets• Permafrost (ground ice).

Here’s Ed’s list


ESS 203 Topics• What is a glacier?• How do glaciers respond to climate changes?• Glaciers and sea level• The climate record left in the landscape by glaciers.• Climate records locked in glaciers (ice cores)• Ice Ages and continental-scale ice sheets• Glacier outburst floods• Lakes under two miles of ice• How do scientists formulate useful questions?• How do scientists communicate their results?• What is peer review, and how does it work?• Why is there political controversy about ice?


ESS 203 web page


Syllabus• For details, see handout and class page



Canvas• We will use canvas for the GradeBook• some writing assignments will be posted there• But not much else

Syllabus

• For details, see handout and class pagehttp://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

Executive Outline• Course content and purpose• Learning Objectives• Tentative Timetable• Reading materials• Class structure, Lab structure• Group research projects• Tests• Grading• Disability-related needs, Safety, Religious accommodations,

Academic integrity

Learning ObjectivesYou will understand:• how and why the cryosphere is changing today.• how glaciers alter landscape, climate, and sea level.• how scientists can extract a wealth of information

about past environments from ordinary materials such as mud, ice, stone, wood.

• How to read scientific papers, to get the story from the original sources.

• How to find your own rough answers to key environmental questions.


Course Reading

Text:Macdougall, Frozen Earth: the once and future

story of ice ages. UC Press, 2013.

Selected articles from journals and peer-reviewed periodicals

• These articles will generally be posted on the class web page.


Course Grading

25% - class tests (2) 40% - labs 10% - short writing assignments due at class15% - group research project and report 10% - class participation


What will you do in this class?

Lectures and group discussions in class.• Your attendance at classes is very important

because of the discussions.

My goal is to post lecture slides on the class web page before each lecture (please check to see whether I succeed J). • You can bring them on a laptop computer, tablet,

or phone, or as printouts, if you want to follow along.


What will you do in this class? (cont’d)There will be frequent short writing assignments (~1 page or ess) .• CR/NC (no numerical grade) but completing them

will contribute to your course grade.

There will be 2 Midterm Quizzes • after 4 weeks and after 8 weeks.• Study questions will be posted a week ahead.• Each quiz will consist of some of those questions.• I encourage you to work with classmates to figure

out your best answers.

There is no final exam.http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

What will you do in this class? (cont’d)Each class, a previously identified volunteer• recounts briefly (in less than 1 minute) 1 or 2

highlights from the previous class (not a summary of the entire class), and

• turns in a written report of ~100 words (an Abstract) identifying those highlights.

• Volunteering to make these reports will enhance your class participation grade.

You will carry out a research project with a Group.• Your group will write a group paper and make a

short oral presentation in Lab in Week 10.


What will you do in Labs?Labs start formally this week.Work in groups on exercises that supplement lectures.• Your group will report your findings to the other groups.

Write 1-2 page assignment for each Lab. • Your TA (Joel) will assign grades to your Lab work.Take 2 field trips in Lab periods, to see glacial features around Seattle.* Print and/or bring the posted Lab worksheets digitally each week.


Lab This Week

http://extremeicesurvey.org/

James Balog – artist and scientistTime-lapse photography of glaciers

Art meets Science• We will watch an Extreme Ice Survey video• We will discuss the questions in the Lab 1 handout• No formal writing assignment this week.


Action Items (also see syllabus)1. Writing assignment due on Wednesday:• Describe 2 things that you learned today about glaciers. (If you did not learn

something new, you can find 2 things by looking up "glaciers" on the web or in an encyclopedia. Do not cut-and-paste!)

• What is 1 thing that you want to know about glaciers but don't (yet)? To keep it easy, please do not exceed 1 paragraph or 1/2 page. Thanks!

2. Reading assignment:During the next week or so, we will be asking “What is a Glacier?”• Please read the Wikipedia entry Glacier at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacierin particular the sections Types, Formation, Structure, and Motion.

3. Class Questionnaire:I have given you a Questionnaire so I can learn more about your backgrounds and interests. If you didn’t get a copy in class, you can download it from the class page.• Please return Questionnaires by Friday, or as soon as you can. Thanks.


Plagiarism Hypothetical ESS 203 Assignment:In a paragraph, outline the geography and human history of Amery Ice Shelf.

On Wikipedia, you find:

Example 1: Is this plagiarism?

Student reportThe Amery Ice Shelf (69�45′S 71�0′E) is a broad ice shelf in Antarctica at the head of Prydz Bay between the Lars Christensen Coast and Ingrid Christensen Coast. It is part of Mac. Robertson Land. The name "Cape Amery" was applied to a coastal angle mapped on February 11, 1931 by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under Douglas Mawson. He named it for William Bankes Amery, a civil servant who represented the United Kingdom government in Australia (1925–28). The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names interpreted this feature to be a portion of an ice shelf and, in 1947, applied the name Amery to the whole shelf.

Wikipedia


Student reportThe Amery Ice Shelf (69�45′S 71�0′E) is a broad ice shelf at the head of Prydz Bay in Antarctica, between the Lars Christensen Coast and Ingrid Christensen Coast. It is part of Mac. Robertson Land. The name "Cape Amery" was applied to a coastal angle mapped on February 11, 1931 by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under Douglas Mawson. The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names interpreted this feature to be a portion of an ice shelf and, in 1947, applied the name Amery to the whole shelf. Mawson named it for William Bankes Amery, a civil servant who represented the United Kingdom government in Australia (1925–28).

Wikipedia

Example 2: Is this plagiarism?http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

Student reportThe broad Amery Ice Shelf is at the head of Prydz Bay in Antarctica, between the Lars Christensen Coast and Ingrid Christensen Coast. It is part of Mac. Robertson Land. The name "Cape Amery" was applied to a coastal angle mapped by the British Australian New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) under Douglas Mawson on February 11, 1931. ACAN (the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names) interpreted this feature to be a portion of an ice shelf and, in 1947, applied the name Amery to the whole shelf. Mawson named it after William Bankes Amery, a civil servant from the United Kingdom government in Australia from 1925 to 1928.

Wikipedia

Example 3: Is this plagiarism?http://courses.washington.edu/ess203/

Avoiding plagiarismAre you concerned about the quality of your written English?• It won’t ever improve if you copy other people’s writing as

your own to avoid embarrassment.• Instructors in the class may annotate your grammar, spelling,

sentence structures, and composition in your written work, but our goal is to help you write better in your next report.

• We do not deduct points mark for composition errors, if you are working to improve.

Are you trying to save time?• Trying to tweak somebody else’s text and to remove embedded

links can take longer that writing in your own words.

Don’t try to cheat yourself out of value in your education!


Glaciers From Top to Bottom

Blue Glacier, Mt Olympus

• Lots of snow here.• Note the bergschrund (that

very(!) large crack).

• Note annual layering in the ice cliff.

Blue Glacier, Mt Olympus

• Note the crevasses.• Do you think this thing moves?• Do you see any exposed ice?

High on Blue Glacier, Mt Olympus, in late June

In late June, from Panic Peak.• Note the bare ice patches.• Does this mean that the glacier is shrinking?

Blue Glacier terminus, Mt Olympus

Wedgemount Glacier, Garibaldi Park, B.C.• In ablation area near glacier terminus.• Note the seracs (large ice blocks). • Why is there no snow here?

Glacier Mass Budget

• Net accumulation of snow on upper glacier, where annual snowfall exceeds annual melting.

• Snowfall equals melting on �equilibrium line�.

• Net melting (�ablation�) on lower glacier.

• Ice flow continually carries excess ice and snow from accumulation area to ablation area to maintain a rough balance.

Nepal – Glaciers and peopleManang Glacier and Manang village, Annapurna Himal• Note the lake dammed by a glacial moraine.

Lowell Glacier

Yukon Territory

• Note medial moraines.Whenever 2 tributary glaciersjoin, dirt and rock fromtheir margins becomespart of the combined glacier downstream.

The glacier is ~2 miles across near its terminus in Lowell Lake.

Tweedsmuir Glacierin northern

British Columbia

• Note the looped medial moraines. This glacier �surges�every few decades.

Surging Glacier

• Note helicopter for scale.• What might happen to the river when the glacier surges?

Tweedsmuir Glacier surges into Alsek River.

1960

South Cascade Glacier, WA

1983

2000

1960-2006

2006

Documents

ESS 203 Glaciers and Global Change - University of …The Amery Ice Shelf (69 45′S 71 0′E) is a broad ice shelf at the head of PrydzBay in Antarctica, between the Lars Christensen